This is National Library Week, a time when the nation’s 15,000-plus libraries remind us of their roles in our society.
The evolving role of libraries is an issue that continues to be questioned, even by librarians themselves.
Are libraries, particularly public libraries, becoming obsolete?
Libraries have been profoundly affected by the emergence of the digital age. When the average American can find and read almost any book, article or news story ever published without even leaving his home, the idea of going to the library seems almost quaint, if not antiquated.
Yet, in one segment of our community, today’s public libraries remain vitally relevant, perhaps more relevant than ever.
For those without access to the Internet, the public-access computers at the local library are the only means of accessing essential information and services — everything from applying for a job, securing health insurance, taking online classes to filing tax returns. With each passing day, it seems, we rely on the internet to navigate daily life.
This year, for the second straight year, the Mississippi Legislature has cut funding for libraries. Those funds are set aside for salaries of library workers and cannot be used for other needs. The other funding comes from city/county government.
Some libraries can offset the loss of state funding better than others, especially those located in cities and county’s with a strong tax base.
For rural libraries, the cut in state funding is, as Tanna Taylor, put it is “catastrophic.”
Taylor, the director of the four-county Tombigbee Regional Library System based in West Point, said the state has cut funding by $80,000 over the past two years. Those kind of cuts, if they continue, are an existential threat.
“I can’t fix this,” Taylor said. “The people in Jackson, they’re the only ones who can fix it.”
That said, the risk libraries may come to be viewed as simply another social service presents its own problems.
If libraries are to earn wide community support, they must appeal not only to the poor, but to the larger community. What’s in it for the rest of us becomes the question.
Although many of the roles once performed by libraries have been forever altered by the arrival of the digital age, other roles remain and libraries would do well to aggressively pursue those opportunities.
The libraries of the past were not just book and information repositories: They were the meeting places of the community, where people gathered to share common interests and ideas.
If libraries are to remain relevant, they’ll need to be vibrant places where people can gather to pursue shared hobbies, exchange ideas, be inspired by expert speakers and generally engage with one another.
Are libraries obsolete? Certainly, not to many of our poorest citizens.
For everyone else, whether libraries are or will soon become obsolete may rely on the creativity and energies of those who run them.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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